Job Title Modifiers for newbies/experienced players

[Mordent]

Admins can already see that information, so no need for us to have a label on them.

Mentors shouldn't really need to know that information; if they ask a question you can answer it, and while newbies may need coaching on more things whereas veterans might be asking more questions about finer points rather than, say, controls, if they need to have an answer expanded on they can always ask.

This is up there with "restrict new players from playing X job" for me in terms of things that we don't really need. We just happen to have a surge of newbies right now, that'll settle down really quickly.

[Zamujasa]

I don't see any need for titles. If someone is new we have always allowed them to speak up on the department radios to introduce themselves and let everyone know they are new to the job. We also encourage long time players to take some time to help these players get used to new jobs.

And of course we already have mentors instead of tutors. Hit mentorhelp, get connected with someone who knows things. Its a good system.

Mentorhelp is cool and good for asking questions, but I feel like enabling this to happen in-game would make the game environment more fun and interesting. Personal anecdotes and all, but being in-game with a person lets you directly observe and guide them, while mentorhelps typically won't get involved in anything you're doing (partially as a requirement of their role to not use that information). Being able to see what someone is doing and tell them what to do next or what went wrong is a lot more active than waiting for a follow-up question of "why did the brain not fall out when I used the saw".

Mentorhelps also require that someone is a mentor, which involves an application process and other stuff that casual-but-helpful people cough may not take the time to do.

I love this idea but it might be construed as scarlet lettery to some folks. Maybe let this classification only be viewed to mentors/admins?

Could be done like the old identification of traitors with a big N top right of their spaceman.

There are a few other games that come to mind that automatically give new players a "?" or "?" icon beside their name for the first few hours of playtime. Again, I'd only want the newbie one to automatically apply for the first few rounds someone plays, but otherwise only show up if someone intentionally sets it.



(Also, just to clarify, these titles are intended for a player's jobs, not a player themselves; e.g. while someone could be experienced in Science nerdery, they may have absolutely no clue how to be a Miner.)

[Wisecrack34]

I really like this idea because even admin help cannot get me to engineer right, at one point I think I was competent enough to do it because someone showed me in person how it works but alas such knowledge is long since forgotten.

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Also this would be really helpful with security, you'd be able to tell which officers are new to the job (and thus should be helped via chat) and which ones have played longer (so you know to listen to them)

[Vitatroll]

Should always be optional if a thing. I've met a lot of people who've avoided playing games where they drew attention. Involuntarily slappin' "NOOB" on them is good way to lose new players in a no-skill-required social game.

[warcrimes]

Should always be optional if a thing. I've met a lot of people who've avoided playing games where they drew attention. Involuntarily slappin' "NOOB" on them is good way to lose new players in a no-skill-required social game.

^ ^ ^
being good at the game is not actually a part of ss13. 
labeling such implies you need to be good at the job to do the job

[KikiMofo]

Give me a label of being the best TTV maker ever.

[AwkwardDryad]

I like the concept, but I don't feel like it should go too far. Perhaps just keep the trainee tag, if additional tags are granted from experience, it may cause some sort of unintentional social crisis in which players of a lower "class" would be looked down upon. (take any game with a ranking system. hell, even minecraft server that have donation ranks have shit like this all over them) Then this would form a weird socially pressured server culture in which some people would overspecialize doing the same job repeatedly to earn a higher tag so they're not looked down upon instead of doing what they would actually enjoy that round. The trainee tag is a good indicator of when you may have to explain things a little more to people. It has utility, it solves a lot of confusion, and lets people who want to help know which people might need help with the mechanics of their role. Anything beyond this could cause a lot more problems than it solves.

[Wisecrack34]

I agree with Dryad, even stuff like a trainer tag might be unnecessary since people who'd end up taking it would still be just as likely to help the person out.

[Zamujasa]

I'd want the more-experienced tag to function more as a "I am very good at this, and I am actively willing to help teach people about it", not as a status symbol, though I can see how it could be misused or misunderstood to be that way. My original idea was having no restrictions on using either the "Trainee" or "Tutor"-type tags, other than getting an automatic "Trainee" for your first few rounds. It'd be a matter of controlling the culture around them, I guess.

[kyle2143]

I do not think that this is a good idea and, quite frankly, I think that adding such a system to goonstation would be taking the culture and community in the wrong direction in general.

This seems like a fairly intrusive way to add what is just an avenue to teach new players about the game. We already have other avenues for that which people do use. We have mentorhelp. People can just ask for help from coworkers in-game to teach them about a job and frequently do. I've waked at least a dozen people through the basics of genetics or medicine simply because we were both doctors and they either asked for help or they were struggling in silence. And there many many others who have taught jobs to new players as well. If you know a job and how to do it well, you don't need to see a "trainee" tag on a player to tell that they are new so you can help them; you can just offer advice or help at your leisure.

Having players walking around a normal round with "trainee" or "tutor" tags on them would change overall plot of rounds to being a sort of classroom instead of a game with murder, danger, and intrigue. That is not to say I don't like or appreciate when players decide to run lessons about mechanics in rounds, I do. But this would system would turn the very act of teaching new players into a core gameplay mechanic. The game involves a good deal of learning, it's true, but the game isn't about learning how to play the game with someone holding your hand the whole time until you're ready to actually play the game; it's about playing the game.

For "trainees" I think that it would paint a target on their backs or cause people to more easily discriminate against them. Some people might be more prone to ignore "trainee" players so as not to slow themselves down, or target them more for antag shenanigans, or leave them out of gimmicks. OMJ had a decent addition to this where these labels are only viewable by mentors/admins to prevent any discrimination, but that has a problem too in that mentors are already pretty amenable to helping new people no matter the context.

Regarding adding an "experienced" or "tutor" tag that can be seen by all, that sounds like a way of ooc mentorhelp encroaching on actual gameplay or RP. And it has the added con of enabling a culture of elitism; do you really need an explicit reward to display your skill for knowing how to do a job well from the game? Though if job rewards and experience were an actual thing, I wouldn't be at all opposed to having a similar sort of "experienced" tag for someone who gets some ridiculous amount of EXP in that job. Because that's more of a harmless joke/brag item, but you're not really bragging about skills, just about time played which is fine.

[Kira]

I am new and while this sounds neat in theory I think that it would just label me as someone not to trust and have favortism towards pro players.

[Cogwerks]

I think self-toggleable ranks and medals would be fun things to have appended into the ID descriptions and the personnel file.
RP server would probably enjoy that. Could introduce some more strategic utility for the crew records, see what your target's strengths are.

[salix_catus]

I've been playing for quite a few years now. But I'm really unrobust and awful at security and nuke ops etc. So self toggles would be more ideal for telling it how it is.